-
Document de presse | 2005.12.10
The mechanisms that trigger a debilitating genetic disease have been unveiled
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS have unravelled the cellular mechanisms that are deregulated in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a life threatening genetic disease that damages kidney function. The authors showed that the dilation of renal tubules leading to cyst formation is linked to a disorganised growth of tubular cells. This research, published in “Nature Genetics...
-
Document de presse | 2005.09.28
The keys to life in the extreme cold
A team from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS, in collaboration with the Genoscope, has deciphered the clever mechanisms developed by a bacterium allowing it to flourish in the heart of Antarctica. In scrutinizing its genome, the researchers revealed several developments in this bacterium's metabolism that allow it both to resist very low temperatures and to flourish there quite effectively....
-
Document de presse | 2005.09.05
Cholera: How Parasites Make Bacteria Pathogenic
Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria that causes cholera, is made pathogenic by one of its parasites, the CTX virus. This virus enables the vibrio to produce a toxin that causes the lethal diarrhea of cholera. Researchers at the CNRS and Institut Pasteur have recently proven, in a work published in Molecular Cell, which adaptive method the CTX bacteriophage uses to propagate itself so effectively in the...
-
Document de presse | 2005.09.01
Mrs Alice Dautry appointed Managing Director of Institut Pasteur
The Board of Directors of the Institut Pasteur met on 2 September 2005 with a view to appointing the new Managing Director. Press releaseParis, september 2, 2005 During its previous meetings the Board of Directors :- had decided to create a Search Committee in order to receive, attract and then scientifically analyse applications, before drawing up a shortlist of applicants...
-
Document de presse | 2005.09.01
Isolation of adult muscle stem cells for skeletal muscle repair
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS have succeeded in isolating muscle stem cells displaying a high potential for muscle repair. These cells, which correspond to satellite cells, were, until now, inaccessible in their native state. Twenty thousand muscle stem/satellite cells were sufficient to promote significant muscle repair in mice, whereas one million cultured muscle precursor...
-
Document de presse | 2005.06.14
From stem cells to skeletal muscle : the vital stages deciphered
A laboratory from the Institut Pasteur, associated with the CNRS has taken a determining step towards the understanding of the evolution of skeletal muscle stem cells. Using specific genetic markers, researchers have shown four characteristic stages that mark out the development of the muscle cells from a population of stem cells, which they have identified. This discovery has very important...
-
Document de presse | 2005.06.12
A new step towards using stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease
Research by a team at the Institut Pasteur associated with the CNRS published today in Nature Neuroscience is uncoveringsignificant prospects for developing cell therapies to repair the brain. These researchers have succeeded in triggering the transformation of neuronal stem cells from the adult brains of mice into neurons capable of secreting dopamine, a molecule lacking in Parkinson's...
-
Document de presse | 2005.05.11
Fifth Human Retrovirus Discovered at Institut Pasteur
After HTLV-1, the first human retrovirus isolated in 1980 in the United States, then HTLV-2, discovered in 1982, and finally HIV-1 and HIV-2, which cause AIDS, isolated at Institut Pasteur in 1983 and 1985, a fifth human retrovirus, HTLV-3, has just been discovered by researchers at Institut Pasteur. Its simian equivalent had been known for about ten years, and researchers were looking for this...
-
Document de presse | 2005.02.24
"The Sword and the Shield" - How bacteria develop their virulence by creating multiple variants
Researchers at Institut Pasteur and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), in association with the Imperial College of London, recently explained why Shigella flexneri bacteria, which cause fatal dysenteries, have several variants (serotypes), thus optimizing their virulence. This discovery, published in Science, is essential to vaccine research as, in order to be...
-
Document de presse | 2005.01.05
A candidate Vaccine for West Nile Virus
Researchers at Institut Pasteur recently proved the efficacy of a candidate vaccine against West Nile virus infection in animal model. Their results are published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Mosquito-borne West Nile virus is an emerging neurotropic pathogen which is particularly disquieting due to its recent emergence in North America : since 2002, more than 13,000 cases, including 500...